1/30/19
The Emmaus wrestling team will be making its first appearance in the District XI Class 3A Tournament since the 2016-17 season on Thursday.
Head coach Thad Smith’s team (11-6 overall) was awarded the No. 9 seed and will take on eighth-seeded Freedom (15-5) in the opening-round at 6 p.m. at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium.
The Hornets and Patriots last met two years ago in the regular-season with Freedom prevailing. The Patriots also defeated Emmaus in the 2015-16 regular season 33-30, however, the Hornets gained a bit of revenge by defeating Freedom 41-20 in districts.
The Hornets are led by junior Caden Wright (170 pounds/17-2 record), senior Jackson Karrat (138/20-6), freshman Nick Velde (120/18-6), sophomore Kordell Waiters (126/18-7) and freshman Jared Groller (152/17-7).
Freedom’s top wrestlers include: junior Jared Jenkins (182/21-5) junior Luis Vargas (120/23-6), junior Max Marrero (220/22-7), freshman Connor Bevan (106/17-9) and senior Sebastian Gibbs (160/19-10).
The winner of the Emmaus/Freedom match will take on top-seeded Liberty (16-2) at 7:30 p.m.
The other opening-round matchups at 6 p.m. include: No.5 Nazareth (13-3) vs No. 12 Whitehall (11-7); No. 6 Pottsville (14-2) vs No. 11 Blue Mountain (9-5) at Northampton High School, and No. 7 Easton (9-3) vs No. 10 Parkland (10-5).
Bethlehem Catholic (No.2, 9-1), Northampton (No.3, 13-2) and Stroudsburg (No.4, 16-3) all received first-round byes and will be in action at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
The tournament will move to Freedom High School on Saturday with a pair of consolation quarterfinals at 9 a.m., followed by the semifinals at 10:45 a.m., the consolation semifinals at 12:30 p.m. and the finals at 5:30 p.m.. The top two teams will advance to the PIAA 3A state tournament which gets underway on February 4.
Like Emmaus wrestling on facebook, follow @Emmaussports on twitter for updates throughout the tournament.